A Fox's Tale
by Digineko1a
Summary: What would happen if Naruto had a little someone help him pass the genin exam, then act as a permanent partner for him through his life? How much will change when the malestorm meets the wildfire?


A Fox's Tale

Disclaimer: I own only the mess in my room not much else, so as Naruto is not part of that mess I hold no claim over him. (Although a pet kyuubi or kitsune would be rather cool.)

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

"_**Kyuubi Speech"**_

"**Jutsu"**

-or*Sound effects*or-

K-sama = Kyuubi-sama

Chapter 1: Genin

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

My ears perked up, that was the boy I was supposed to partner myself with. _Great, now I just need to follow him and not get noticed._ I then followed the blonde haired boy into the exam room still under the camouflage spell I had.

"For the exam you must perform the Bushin no jutsu, and make at least one good clone," said the dark haired chunin, Iruka I think.

"Right!" cried Naruto, "BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"

_SHOOT! Too much chakra!!!_ -CHOMP-

*POOF*

-SWELL-

"Good job Naruto, you pass. …what is that strange fox???"

_Urp! Damn the spell broke, and now I look like a balloon._ "URP!" _Oops!_

*PISHUUUUUUUUUUUU* *FOOM* *FRRRRRRRR*

"LOOK OUT!!!" cried the white haired sensei, as I flew around like a balloon that had been blown up and then released and was shooting fire.

_Whoops! Sorry white head, try some Rogaine__ for that._

"AHHHH!!! PUT ME OUT!!!" screamed Mizuki as his hair continued to burn while Naruto, Iruka and I stared at the live candle. Fortunately Iruka managed to grab one of the hitai-ates with a large piece of cloth and put out Mizuki's hair.

"Naruto take this, and get out of here," said Iruka as Mizuki moaned and clutched his burned bald head. So Naruto and I quickly left with me following him closely to avoid anger from the chuunins for the accident and to avoid questions for how I got in there.

Naruto looked back and noticed that I was following him, "Hey aren't you that fox that lit Mizuki-sensei on fire?" *nod* "That was really funny. But why are you following me?"

_Because I was assigned to help the person who Lord Kyuubi was sealed into. But how can I tell him?_

"_**Use the 'henge no jutsu' on the fox gaki,"**_ K-sama bellowed into both our heads.

"Who? What? Where? Who said that?!" demanded Naruto as he looked around.

"_**JUST DO IT!!!"**_ K-sama yelled, and so Naruto did while feeling rather scared by the loud yelling voice.

"**Henge no jutsu**" *POOF* Lo and behold a girl with a foxtail stands before Naruto wearing only…"Oops, **Henge**"… ah that's better wearing an orange outfit similar to what Naruto is wearing.

"Kon… wait I can talk! Yea! Thank you, now I can explain who I am. My name is Arahi and I have been assigned by the fox elders to act as your partner and ensure that Kyuubi-sama doesn't develop a worse rep for foxes." ^_^

"HUH??? The Kyuubi is dead, so what do you have to do with me??" Naruto asked confused.

*blink blink* "What?? Wait, you mean you didn't know that it was sealed inside you?" I asked confused.

"Inside me!? What are you talking about?!"

"Let's go to your house, it will be better for us to speak there."

"Okay, first you need to know what really happened to the Kyuubi. It wasn't killed by the Yondaime; it was sealed into a newborn child. It was sealed in YOU. And as it currently stands you are likely to follow one of two paths as a ninja. You will either be used as an ultimate weapon, unlikely due to the opinions of current leadership; or you will be used as basically cannon fodder to train the rookie of the year and quickly die on a mission." I said.

"What?! No way am I going to be cannon fodder for Sasuke-teme. Alright, what do I need to do to ensure I won't just be used to improve Sasuke-teme?"

"Well then we need to start improving you, first let's fix the wardrobe. Bright orange is the **perfect** color for fresh cannon fodder. Orange is okay, us foxes wear it all the time, but it needs to be dull or dark orange to be less visible. We'll work on that tomorrow; right now let's go find a place to train."

Meanwhile

"Damit how could that idiot Naruto pass?! It must have something to do with that blasted fox. Oh well, I'll just have to steal the scroll myself," said Mizuki to himself. Then he jumped off to plan how to break in and steal the forbidden scroll.

That evening/night:

"Will these really work as weapons, Arahi?" Naruto asked.

"Of course they will, at least until we can by some real weapons. Now just continue practicing that exercise as I told you," I said.

Naruto continued practicing for about ten minutes when suddenly *POW* *THUMP* "Oops! Uh-oh, uh Mizuki-sensei daijoubu?" Naruto asked.

"I think he's unconscious. What was he carrying?" I asked.

"Let me see… Hey there's a technique on this scroll. Kage bushin no jutsu? Darn it's just a stupid clone jutsu, I stink at those."

"Wait, that technique creates solid clones that can attack people even though they pop after one hit. That would be a rather powerful skill to have… but I think I'm forgetting something about that jutsu, what was it?" I wondered.

And so Naruto worked on learning the Kage bushin and managed to figure it out in about half an hour, after which he rolled up the scroll and stood in triumph. *crik* "Shoot." *poof*

"Naruto? What are you doing? Did you stop Mizuki from stealing the forbidden scroll? Great job Naruto!" said Iruka. "Here help me tie him up and then we will bring him and the scroll to the Hokage."

I hopped onto Naruto's shoulder and asked K-sama to warn him not to tell Iruka about the shadow clone jutsu, since it was from the forbidden scroll. As it was Naruto (we) pretended that Mizuki had only just gotten to his (our) training area just five minutes before Iruka arrived. After being allowed to go home we began to discuss plans for how Naruto would appear at the academy tomorrow.

"I think you should use a henge to get the new clothes we talked about, easy reason for the change: 'Now that I'm a real ninja I need to dress like one.'" I suggested. "So tomorrow you will wake up early and buy some dull red/orange clothes and a staff."

"But Arahi that will wipe out all of my money! The clothes alone will probably use al the money that I have. Which means no ramen if I get them and I can't even think about the staff," complained Naruto.

"Naruto, you K. an attempted robber and missing nin. You can pick up a reward for that from the Hokage, also to improve prices at stores use the henge. Become someone people don't hate and so long as that person doesn't come in while you are there it won't be a problem," I told him.

After we got Naruto's new clothes and the staff, though we left that at Naruto's home, we went to the academy to find out what team Naruto would be on.

"Whoa, Naruto what's with the new getup?" Kiba asked upon seeing Naruto in his new dull red orange outfit.

"Well since I'm now an official ninja I want to look the part. Plus the old outfit made everyone think that I was an idiot so they will likely underestimate me in a fight," Naruto grinned. "By the way do you think your family could help me learn how to talk to my fox here?" he asked, pointing to me on his shoulder.

"Uh… sure come by the kennel later and my neesan can get you started," Kiba replied slightly shocked. "Hey! When did you get a fox? You never had one before today."

Just then Iruka came in and told everyone to sit down and be quiet. Sasuke glared at Naruto for making himself look strong when in Sasuke's mind Naruto could never be more than an idiot who would quickly be killed in any real fight he got into. Other people had noticed Naruto's change in attire, one such being Hinata who glowed in happiness seeing Naruto looking cool and getting the real attention that she felt he deserved.

"Okay everyone, congratulations on passing the Genin exam. Now you will each be assigned a team and jounin sensei. Team 1," and Iruka began naming teams. As Arahi had expected Naruto was put onto Sasuke's team, unfortunately so was the apparently useless Haruno Sakura, a good fangirl but not really a helpful ninja. "Team 7 your instructor is Hatake Kakashi, wait here he should be here sometime…… maybe in a few hours."

And so team 7 found themselves waiting in shear boredom for their sensei, Sasuke was brooding, Sakura was dreaming about Sasuke declaring his undying love, Arahi was taking a nap in Naruto's bag, and Naruto was reading one of the scrolls Arahi had procured for him after placing a cut sealing scroll in the door way set to trigger a trap as soon as the door opened. After about 3 hours of waiting the door began to open…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Yay my first story and it already has a cliff hanger, in part due to my not having a really clear idea of where I plan to go. I know where I want to end up but I don't know how to get there right now. Don't expect an update for a while as this first chapter has been in progress for quite some time and I have only just finished it enough to feel ready to post it.

Well thanks for reading, Digineko1a! ^-^!


End file.
